Willemijn Verloop
| Willemijn Verloop | |
|---|---|
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| Born | February 1970 (age 47) Utrecht, The Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Education | University of Leiden, University of Amsterdam. History and International Relations. |
| Known for | Founder of War Child |
Willemijn Verloop (Utrecht, 14 February 1970) is a Dutch peace activist dedicated to children affected by war. Founder of War Child Since 2012 she is the founder and director for Social Enterprise NL, a platform for growing the Social enterprise sector in The Netherlands.
Verloop grew up in Bilthoven and studied history and international relations at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam. She went through short projects on the Political Affairs Department (Centre Against Apartheid) at the United Nations in New York and at the Political Affairs Department of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Then she worked for three years as a program manager at The European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans, a non-governmental organization that was committed to peace in the Balkans.
In 1994 Willemijn Verloop visited the war zone of Bosnia and Herzegovina and met an English professor of Music Therapy, Nigel Osborne, who gave creative workshops to children traumatized by war in the shelters of Sarajevo and Mostar. Excited by his activities she founded the Dutch War Child organization in 1994 and started to engage politicians, musicians, artists and people from the media- and entertainment sector for the War Child cause. Under her leadership War Child Holland grew from a very small organisation in 1994 to one of the best known non-profit organisations in the Dutch market.
She personally took the initiative to develop War Child Holland's programmes in the field as relief organization focussed on bringing psycho-social aid for many traumatised children in war. This was at a time that there were no organizations that were specifically focussed on war and children, nor on psychosocial aid. With War Child she was one of the founders and creators of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Netherlands by starting innovative partnerships and sponsorships with the commercial sector (a.o. Ben & Jerry's). From the mid-1990s she was seen as a frontrunner within the sector for low overheads and transparency in financial and operational reporting. Under her management War Child won the Dutch Transparency Award three times. What is stated in many interviews with her, is the innovative way the brand War Child was launched in the market, the business approach, low overhead, with innovative marketing, positive messages, catchy videos & clips, the use of music and entertainment industry as well as new spectacular fund-raising events such as the Friends for War Child concert. In her fifteen years as Director of War Child, she was a familiar guest in many television programs in which she stood up for human rights, culture and social development.
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